How Foolish
by Airplane-Watchin
Summary: Kyoko can't look away and well can she be blamed, ties on certain people have that effect. Two-shot.
1. Chapter 1

Inspired by that one scene where Ren is handing out coffee to his coworker, because why the hell not?  
Mistakes are rightly mine, Skip Beat however is not.

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Golden eyes peek at the blonde figure that is fixated to the computer screen in front of him. She wills her eyes to look away as her heart betrays her by skipping a beat. She prays he does not notice.

He does not. Fingers typing away at the keyboard.

She will not look at those fingers – continues the internal battle of pulling away her traitorous eyes that have taken to admiring his ears.

God damn, she wants to slap herself out of this semi-haze. Like a warrior who wounds oneself to stop the numbing exhaustion of battle.

She manages after many long minutes to pull her eyes back to her work. She does not, cannot claim victory, she has broken quite a few self-made promises thus far.

She told herself she would not be like his many admirers, the ones who giggled, batted their eyelashes, flirted with a passion of a warrior during the last battle, and tried various methods to get him to peek down their generously opened silk blouses.

She has done no such thing, only due to a lack of confidence and her old-fashioned upbringing.

Still she cannot help but glance once in a while, though her glance rate has been increasing.

The demons tell her it is a losing war, she tells them to shut the hell up.

She tries once again to focus on the work at hand, a simple task her brain knows she can finish in fifteen minutes. Perhaps this is why her brain is being lazy in monitoring her eyes.

It is a horrible habit, she has stared so much that she has him memorized.

She can tell you his shoulder length, knows the circumference of his neck. She can describe in a heartbeat the way his forearm muscle tighten when he pulls back his sleeves, how his fingers flex when they run through his locks, how they swim graciously over his keyboard, the exact manner in which he takes long seemingly effortless strides when he walks, the way his eyes appear to change color, or the way his cheekbones are positioned at the perfect degree on this symmetrical face.

She admires his form, considers herself a creep for doing so and shamefully continues. Oh how she continues as the scorching guilt beats down on her.

She is staring again, and she barely realizes, but he does.

Startling green golden orbs meet hers, and she whips her head down. A blush forming on her cheeks at being caught.

Oh god, she whispers.

It takes her half a minute to take another peek to see if he is creeped out.

He back to his work again, though she doubts he even paused.

She looks back at her works and vows that she will not stare at that man for the rest of the work day.

She does not, which is no accomplishment in her eyes as she gets out of work an hour later.

As she packs she notices that he has already left, no doubt to enjoy the rest of the day.

She politely informs her supervisor that she is leaving and walks out to the elevators.

The elevator dings open and as she lifts her head to get on, a scowl threatens to break through.

She ignores the other two occupants as she steps in.

Of all the days for her to get stuck riding in the elevator with Fuwa-the-bastard, as she likes to call him in her head, it had to be today. Add to the equation his bimbo intern Nanokura Mimori, who most everyone on the floor knows he is sleeping with.

Nanokura giggles and Kyoko shoots her pupils upward chanting in her head for the elevator to move faster.

The minute the elevator reaches the ground floor Kyoko swiftly walks out, only to catch the bastard smirking. If she was in a darkened state of mind she would have flicked him off or better yet packed a punch straight into that defined nose of his. She ignores him and walks to the front doors, only to see a small shower coming down on the earth.

It is a good thing she economically always keeps a small umbrella on hand.

"Need a ride?" asks a voice.

She glares at Fuwa-the-bastard and pulls out a vehement, "No."

Nanokura is unhappy with her reply, which proves Kyoko's theory that people in love do become dumb, or in Nanokura's case dumber.

Fuwa-the-bastard watches as she pulls out her travel sized umbrella and opens it. She ignores him as she walks out to the door. The air is filled with the smell of wet dirt, she almost smiles, only to catch the attention of those tempting green eyes.

Hizuri Kuon stares at her and she wonders at the look in his eyes.

The overhang of the building keeps the rain from hitting Hizuri-san and she wonders if he does not have an umbrella with him.

He gives her a polite smiles and she blinks back at him.

"Do you want to share?" she asks before she can control her mouth.

He does not answer right away and she wants to smack her head against the stone pillar of the building.

He looks at her umbrella and she thinks he would not be caught dead under the flowers and sunshine that is her umbrella.

"Thank you for the offer," he says softly, apology in his eyes "But I think with my rather hulking body I would get us both wet."

He is being unfair she thinks, he is not that massive and it must show on her face because the apology is receding from his eyes and being replaced by mirth.

"Mogami-san truly, it is fine, your umbrella is perfect for one person and I couldn't be happy with myself if you got wet because of me"

She wants to roll her eyes at him, what is a little rain here and there? Not like she would be bombarded with a typhoon if they shared an umbrella. Unless he was waiting for someone else? Ah.

She nods her head at him and turns away. Well at least he came up an excuse for not wanting to share with her, not that it matters to her who he shares umbrellas with.

Sunny fingers grasp on to her wrist as she walks away. She looks around and trails those all too familiar digits, trying not to pay too much attention to the amount of veins on the slim hand, to that all too familiar face.

Before she even has a chance to ask the inquisitive face why, her hand is sharply yanked out of that sunshine and into the bitter hand of one Fuwa Sho.

"You sure you want to be harassing a woman right in front of the building?" Fuwa the bastard all but snarls out.

Hizuri-san blinks at him, clearly not understanding his logic. She barely understands it herself.

She almost rolls her eyes at his rudeness and wishes for a brief moment that she would whack him across the head and lecture him on proper manners. Sure he's a director but Hizuri-san is older than them and would never resort to such tactics as harassing women at work.

She slips her hand out of Fuwa the bastards grip and smoothly but frostily says, "Fuwa-san I think there's been some misunderstanding on your part, Hizuri-san would never stoop to such a level."

"Thank you for your hard work, but please excuse me." She continues before either man can reply and gives them a small bow and walks away swiftly.

She hears Nanokura moaning at Fuwa the bastard and possibly pulling his attention back at her.

She snickers, if there is one thing Fuwa the bastard hates, it is needy whiney women and yet here he was in all his glory with the neediest of them all.

"I think I will join you after all," says the voice near her ears and before she can shriek in surprise her umbrella is skillfully taken out of her hand and a blissful smile is thrown her way.

She gives him an incredulous look, morphing her face into something decent. She wants to whack him now.

Does he realize what he does to her heart? Especially at such close proximity? Of course he does not realize, the foolish man.

The rain beats down harder, rise in tempo, and she knows he is getting wet on his end but she cannot trust herself to look.

His scent is overwhelmingly as it is. To her, he smells like warmth and something that will soothingly lull her into a sort of state that would be dangerous for her well nourished walls.

What does a man have to eat to be this good at smiling and smelling she mutters in her head. He is almost fairy like she thinks, almost.

She feels his stare on her and she looks up.

There is sort of a pleasant olive color in those orbs of his, which is why it takes her a while to realize that he is calling her name and looking at her questioningly.

She missed hearing what he is said.

"I'm sorry, but can you please repeat that?" she asks sheepishly.

"I was asking where your home was"

"Why?" she asks confusion masking her face.

He smiles at her and she dips in deeper.

"Well so we don't wander around aimlessly in this weather," he explains.

Now she definitely wants to bang her head against the hardest thing she can find.

She laughs nervously, hoping he does not think she is too stupid, and tells him where her apartment is located.

"But you don't have to walk me home," she says, assuming that is why he asked.

He looks at her in that strange manner again and it darkly occurs to her that his intention in asking might have been something else entirely.

"Well I mean," she looks away and continues, hoping to salvage the situation at hand "uhh, there really is no reason for us to walk that far, you can have my umbrella and well, I actually don't mind getting wet in the rain, truth be told it's one of my favorite things to do, I mean not that I go out of my way to get wet in the rain every time it rains, but you kn-"

She stops breathing.

He is holding her hands.

Why?

"Mogami-san" he says in that cool sweet watermelon slipping down your throat on a hot summer day voice, "I would never let a lady run in the rain while I selfishly took her umbrella."

She wants to protest, but he goes on, "And I asked for you address so I could walk you home."

She sees a shadowy darkness in his eyes and for a second she wants to jerk her hands out his and flee as far away from this man as possible.

Thunder crackles loudly in the sky above them and as awaken from a haze they take stock of their surroundings. The wind has picked up rapidly and what had started out as a light shower has now turned into a booming and harsh rainstorm.

Wordlessly they started walking again, staying mostly silent.

When her bag almost flies out of her arms, courtesy of the fact that she is not taking any work home and thus it is light as pillow, he grabs onto it and tells her to put it between them.

She happily complies, glad to have something physical between them, the nearness is almost choking her cheerfully.

When they reach her apartment she all but shoves the umbrella back at him when he is about to hand it back to her and tells him to keep it or face getting a chilling cold, and for that she would not be responsible if she could help him avoid it.

They say their farewells and she slumps down the minute the door closes behind her.

Her treacherous heart beats, humming to the warmth he has left behind in her.

She stares up at her ceiling and knows she must train harder. She cannot fall for this man any more than she already has.

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Thanks as always for reading. Also this isn't going to be more than 3 chapters, all of which have been typed out.


	2. Chapter 2

Well here it be. I do have to say that I thought this would be three chapters but really I think I'll stop here. The third chapter no matter how I look at it seems broken and almost unnecessary. If I ever do get that chapter to where I want it, I'll put it up, but for all intents and purposes this is the last chapter...until my mind betrays me and makes me jot something down one random day.

Skip Beat I cannot own sadly, but the mistake I will. Enjoy!

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"Thanks for your hard work, here is some tea before we head out," he says smiling graciously in her surprised direction.

She gives him her signature demon face, like he has thrown holy water on her and now she is melting in excruciating pain.

She cannot be blamed too much, like a nimble ninja he takes position on the desk next to her and is handing her the wooden tea cup along with that blazing smile of his.

She can only be glad that everyone else on the floor has gone home, seeing as how it is almost about to be 9:30 pm.

"Mogami-san?"

She schools her face, takes the cup from him, and gives her thanks.

What is his agenda she wonders, taking note of his long lithe legs that run from the top of the desk to the floor. How many bottles of milk did the man consume to be that tall and what exactly is his genetic code for height she muses.

His sleeves are rolled up and she cannot help but admire the show of skin and muscles.

His tie is perfect still in place after the long work day and he peeks at her from over his cup.

She crookedly looks away.

"How was your day?" he asks pleasantly.

"Good," she says as she blinks at him.

"You appeared to have been running around a lot today," he notes.

"Ah yes, we had to get some input and files from the marketing, finance, and research departments," she replies as she counts them off on her fingers.

Wait, is he making small talk with her? Why?

Did he lose some office bet?

It was not as if her colleagues were horrible to her or anything but for the most part she was left alone. The males looked at her as only a coworker and the females were friendly enough to her because she was not competition. What with her plain black hair in a bun and her simple modest clothes, she hardly stood out and yet here was the man women threw themselves at making small talk with her.

She asked him how his day was as she narrowed down the likelihood of an office bet and who had taken part enough to get the Hizuri Kuon to actually participate.

Was it Yashiro-san? He was always secretly trying to get people together and was fairly close to Hizuri-san since he was the assistant manager. Or could it have been Kurosaki-san who dressed like a gangster half the time and pulled pranks the rest half? Perhaps it was Matsunai-san who attempted to have an iron grip on Hizuri-san at all times? Or was it Miroku-san who was strangely enigmatic and looked at Hizuri-san in a strange manner? But he also looked at her in a strange manner, so perhaps he was not involved. Maybe it was the cute Kawagoe-san whose smile at times appeared to take down even the strongest of opponents? If they had all actively participated then Hizuri-san would have had to participate, since he was social and joined his coworkers in the usual office hijinks.

As she muses away she fails to notice that green eyes are once again focused on her and her name is being called.

When a slim hand waves in front of her face she jerks back.

"Mogami-san?"

Head tilted to one side Hizuri-san is looking confusedly at her in a rather adorable manner. Was it okay to call a grown man adorable?

She laughs nervously and bows her body in apology for her woolgathering while he talked.

"Well it has been a tiring and long day," he says giving her an excuse for her rudeness in not paying attention to what he was saying. "Perhaps we should head out."

He takes both their tea cups and she instantly gets up and stops him.

"I can take care of those Hizuri-san," she says holding out her hand for the cups.

Surprisingly he gives up the cups without a fuss and gives her that mysteriously soft smile of his.

Her fickle heart skips a beat.

Playboy.

She comes back to pack her things after she cleans and puts away the cups in the break room.

He is still by his desk.

"Shall we be off?" he asks casually.

Before she can ask him if he lost a bet the corner of her eyes pick up on something blindingly colorful.

"Ho-ho-ho we still have people working on the floor eh?"

Standing in all his cosplay glory is the President of the company. The rumors of him randomly walking into different departments was true thinks Kyoko as he watches them both like a hawk.

She had only encountered him from afar a few times, each time he had been dressed in full costume. Today he appeared to be dressed as a green overall wearing chicken? Or at least that is what she surmises from looking at his white feathery body and tail.

She looks a bit behind him to see a man in full veil, was he Arab? He is holding the chicken head, which confirms her guess.

"Working the clock are we Hizuri-san?" asks the President with an almost nefarious grin. How could that be possible thought Kyoko, why would the President be evil?

She shakes her head slightly to take the negative thought out of her head as Hizuri-san replies.

"Yes, we're just about to leave."

"We?" asks the President, still grinning, was his grin getting larger?

What baffles Kyoko is the fact that Hizuri-san rolls his eyes at the President. Rolling his eyes!

"Is that not the proper grammatical term for denoting myself and Mogami-san? Is there something I'm missing here Takarada-san?"

Takarada-san? Was Hizuri-san always this rude? Who talked to the president in that way?

The president laughs as he walks to Hizuri-san and good-heartedly slaps his back with the chicken wings.

"Still unhappy with me?"

"I'm not a child."

Was Hizuri-san pouting? Should she leave? If she could tear her eyes away from the half pouting face that is. Charmingly cute.

"Then join me for dinner," He turns to look at her, "Would you like to join us for dinner Mogami-san?"

Mouth still open Kyoko looks at the President in his chicken suit.

"Sorry, but I have plans," says Hizuri-san as he moves the chicken wing off his shoulder.

The president pouts, "Lies, what plans can a boring guy like you have?"

"None that you need to be aware of."

"I'm sure it's not a woman."

"Again, with all due respect it is none of your business."

The President shrugs and replies, "Julie will tell me, so it hardly matters how much you try to hide it."

Julie? This was her cue to leave.

"Otsukaresama desu, if you will excuse me Takarada-shacho, Hizuri-san, I will be leaving first", she bows in their direction and walks out the room grabbing her things.

Julie, thinks Kyoko is a pretty name, almost princess like. The elevator dings disrupting her thoughts on fairies and princesses with puffy lacy dresses.

Just as the doors close a hand interferes and stops the doors from closing all the way.

Is it pathetic that she has that hand memorized by now?

"Forgive me," he says in that voice of his "I needed to escape."

He gives her an embarrassed smile and she nods, not really understanding what he is escaping and trying not to find his smile endearing. Her demons cackle in glee. Or is it her angels?

The door closes once again, trapping them in silence save her racing heart.

"I hope Takarada-san didn't," he pauses, searching for a word.

"Didn't?" She prods.

He rubs the back of neck. How can he make, even that action look good?

"Didn't make you feel awkward? He has no filter when it comes to teasing me," he explains.

She looks at him and for some reason pale pink color suffuses his cheeks.

"It's fine," she says and her mouth runs on "Julie is a very pretty name."

Blood rushes to her face and she is sure there has never been a more embarrassing moment in her life. She wants to bang her head against the elevator doors.

She bows and profusely starts to apologize.

A sincere touch gently push her up and she sees a glint in those eyes filled with kindness. Her shoulder is burning from his light touch.

He smiles at her and says "I will be sure to tell my mother you find her name to be pretty."

Mother?

Oh god.

Her heart soars. Recreant.

She laugh nervously as she thinks of something proper to say. Thankfully she does not have to say anything as the elevator doors open. They walk out.

"May I walk you home?" he asks as they walk across the empty lobby.

She halts, now is the perfect time to ask about the bet.

"Ano, Hizuri-san," she starts as her hands fidget with her purse handle, she avoids looking at his face but she cannot go on.

He leans down "Mogami-san?"

She closes her eyes and rushes the words out "Did you lose some sort of a bet or is there a bet going around in the office that you have to partake in Hizuri-san?"

He tilts his head, confused.

"A bet? Of what sort?"

Now her feet are shuffling.

"Well…a bet where you need to walk me home or something?"

She hesitantly peeks at him and a wave of emotions cross his face.

His hands go back to his neck, "Forgive me Mogami-san, but I don't think I'm quite following what you're getting at."

She furrows her eyebrows, how can she explain this to him properly.

Perhaps the best method would be to ask him one by one and he would get her point.

"Hizuri-san why do you want to walk me home?" she ask straight forwardly, looking up at him, so she can point him in the right direction.

He stares back at her expectant expression, looks away and then looks back with a strange firmness.

"Because I would like to," he answers.

"Yes, but why?" she pushes.

"Because I would like to get to know you better," he elaborates.

"Yes, but why?" she gently prods further.

His look changes, there is an emotion swirling in those eyes. She wonders what it is.

"Because," he starts out slow but gains more emotion as he goes on, "I would like to know more about the person I like."

A confused looks falls on her.

"Which person?" she asks, was that what it was. He was being nice to her to find out about someone else in the office. Her heart clutched in pain. She ignored it, or tried to ignore it. Who could the luck lady be though? As she pondered she almost missed his answer.

"You, Mogami-san," he says, as if it is the most normal thing in the world.

She blinks. Turns her head left and right to make sure there are no hidden cameras.

Ah! She misheard him.

She giggles, he looks on nervously? Surely not. Definitely not!

"Forgive me Hizuri-san I misheard what you just said, it's silly really. Can you please repeat who you like, ah but worry not I won't tell anyone."

He clears his throat and his hands glide through his locks, "I said I like you Mogami-san."

He looks at her sheepishly.

She blinks some more. Surely not. Has her hearing really failed on her?

Her fist hits her palm, she must be dreaming.

"Hmm this is a rather realistic dream," she mutters, wondering how she can wake up.

Sturdy fingers give a tug at her cheeks to bring about a tiny bit of discomfort.

"Forgive me," he apologizes, taking his time pulling his hand back as she stares back at him, "I would pinch myself but I don't know if you would believe that I really felt pain, but suffice to say this really isn't a dream. I do like you Mogami-san, in the romantic sense, it might be hard to believe. I mean I'm not the best of men but I mean I do like you and I-"

She ran. It's not true. She is hallucinating. She is losing her mind, all that stress from work is causing her to make up things. Though a tiny voice asks, what stress from work?

She does not get far as that dangerous hand puts a stop to her escape.

He does not let go and her arm is shaking.

"Forgive me, I will let go once I have said everything and I promise I will not bring it up again, please."

He is pleading, she still could not look at him, why is he pleading?

Oh god she needs to breathe. Why is she suffocating? And why in all that is good is this man pleading?

Why could she not breathe?

"Mogami-san? Mogami-san?!"

A hand is rubbing her back.

A hazy voice is soothing her.

In and out, that is all she has to do, in and out.

When her breathing finally is under control she notices, her arm is no longer shaking but it feels cold, as does her back.

"Forgive me," he says softly, regret and hurt lingering in his timbre, "I'll call a cab for you and I won't speak of this again."

Her head jerks up as she watches him walk to the road. Her hand shoots out and grabs the hem of his jacket. Her arm was not shaking. Her arm never shook. It is almost silly how her arm was never shaking.

He turns around and looks at her expectantly. She lets go of his jacket.

She is a fool. She knew, knew with Sho (Fuwa the bastard), but she will consider the consequences of this foolishness later. For now all she can think of is how her arm did not shake.

"I'm sorry," "she manages to get out, he shakes his head and she battles that with a shake of her head.

"No-" he starts, but she cut him off firmly.

"No, it is my fault, I thought it was a bet. I mean I thought perhaps it was Kurosaki-san, or maybe Yashiro-san, I mean it would more likely be Yashiro-san since he seems to like playing matchmaker, but then it could also be Kurosaki-san, I mean this one time he kept sending heart shaped pizzas to Matsunai-san, and well she thought she had a secret admirer."

She is rambling, and her hands are fidgeting. He must think her an idiot. She looks up at him and her heart is taken. Again and again by him.

Eyes filled with tender affection are looking down at her.

"Did anyone ever tell you how adorable you look when you're nervous?" he asks.

She freezes and he winces.

"Sorry, I didn't mean that, no wait, I did mean that but I really shouldn't have said it like that," his hand goes to his hair again "and I mean I should take this slow, but well sometimes I just get –"

Something bubbles inside of her and before she knows it she is laughing. They are both so silly. She just could not help herself. He gives her that look again before joining her and her heart almost bursts. He has such a wondrous laugh. Slightly boyish filled with sunshine. Magical almost.

When their laughter is spent he asks her if she wants to get some tea with him before he sees her off home. She says yes, and she does not point out that they just had tea before they left work. How foolish they both are and that thought puts a mysterious smile on her face that he cannot help but appreciate.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading as always!**

For the wonderful and patient people waiting for my other stories I can only apologize...its been a hard few years and even this story was collecting dust for a year or so and I'm honestly not even sure how I managed to get here. I'm still trying to get my life together, and I do hope I can touch back on those stories but I make no promises. I do heartfully apologize.


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